Love Sucks
by Fearless.Love.Life
Summary: Lilly has been dating Oliver for two years, but what happens when a mysterious musician comes to town and changes her perspective on love? Will she stay with the boy who can give her a future, or the boy who makes her forget her past? Loe.
1. Chapter 1

**I haven't submitted anything in a really long time, and this is a new story. **

**I really like what I've written so far, and hopefully this story will turn out awesome. **

**Read and review, please! **

You know that feeling, when you think you've figured someone out, and then they turn around and surprise you completely? Maybe they didn't mean to, but it's almost as if they've become a different person, in all of five seconds.

Maybe you thought that you knew how they felt about you, but it turns out that you just imagined that smile on his lips when he said your name, or the way he would nervously run his hands through his hair when he looked at you. Maybe you thought that you knew how you felt about him, but you were wrong.

Or it could have been the fact that he had a girlfriend, but you just considered that a technicality on his part. It could have also been the fact that you had a great boyfriend of two years, even if the spark _was_ gone between you two.

Maybe you two were only meant to be friends, and neither of you wanted to believe it. Or maybe it was meant to be that you two couldn't work it out. Even the biggest ultimatum couldn't bring you two together, which is a damn shame considering almost every single other person out there thought that you two were destined to be together, even if they refused to say it out loud.

Even if you won't admit it now, you know that you didn't actually want this to happen. You were happy, right? And you tried so, so hard not to fall for him, but once you did, you just hoped to God that he would be there to catch you in the end. And it turns out that he was, only not in the way you wanted.

Looking back now, you realize that the signs were there all along, so what took so long? You're usually pretty quick to the draw when it comes to boys and their feelings. How else do you think your two closest friends would have gotten together? Not by themselves, that's for sure. But you know what tears you up the most? The fact that what he felt once is what you feel now, and there's nothing you can do about it. It's not as if you can fix it, or even temporarily stitch it back together, because you've done irreparable damage to your heart, and you can feel it every time your heart beats.

And, being you, you're gonna pretend that you're fine. You're not one to cause a scene. So you'll pretend that you're not dragging yourself out of bed each morning, that you can smile without feeling that dull, aching pain in your heart, and even that you're not willing your tears not to spill over every time you think about anything remotely related to him.

So you come up with a solution: drowning your sorrows in your two new best friends, Ben and Jerry, and watching endless hours of bad reality TV to try and distract you from your own bad reality. But even that doesn't completely erase the sound of his voice in the back of your head, or scent of his cologne from that sweater that accidentally left at your house, or the hundreds of memories that you two shared together in the three months that you got to know him in.

But you know what sucks the most about it? The fact that you not only lost a boyfriend _and_ a best friend in less than twenty-four hours, and now your heart is in on the floor in a million pieces, but that, deep down, you know that the best choice would have also been the worst choice you could have ever possibly made, and you would have had to deal with the horrible consequences all by yourself.

On the other hand though, if you _had_ chosen what you really felt in your heart, you would have been truly happy with him. But if you had chosen the safe one, you know you would have felt suffocated for the rest of your life. Sure, there could have been marriage and kids and a solid future, but there was no magic in that relationship. It was great in the beginning, and you'd be the first to admit that, but as time went on, everything became a little too routine - the way he would pick you up at 8:30 every morning to drive you to work, take you out to lunch every Thursday, and then drive you home at the end of the day. If he had even tried to surprise you at all, like a bouquet of daffodils, or some cheesy romantic gesture, you might have thought differently, but you know what you really want.

And of course, if the most exciting boy you'd ever met hadn't shown up in town, things might have been different for you. You'd still be dating an important businessman, you'd still have a chance at living a happy life, and someone to say goodnight to you every night.

What happened to following your own advice? FOLLOW YOUR HEART. What happened to that? Isn't that what you're always telling other people. So it turns out that you can't even listen to yourself. Does that somehow make you a hypocrite?

And by no means necessary, did you mean to love him. But you know what hurts the most? Knowing that no matter how much your heart is hurting, you still want to the first thing he thinks of when he wakes up, and the last thing he thinks of before he goes to sleep.

So now, like any other girl getting over a guy, you're reminded of him every time you see something even remotely related to him. Every time you see someone on a motorcycle, you crane your neck to see if it's him behind the wheel. Every time there's a cheesy commercial on TV, you wonder if he's watching it and shaking his head, chuckling like he used to. Every time your phone vibrates, you hope it's him calling to say goodnight. You hadn't realized how close you two were until one bad mistake tore you apart.

You two were inseparable for three months, and yet it only took three minutes for it to all come crashing down. And you know the saddest part? The fact that he was the first boy you ever truly loved.

**Hope you liked it! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Yay! New chapter! Ummmmm, the last chapter was an introduction to the whole story, so this chapter should get more interesting. Review, review, review! **

**I don't own any of the characters, Access Hollywood, Coach, or any of the other names of brands mentioned.**

"Good morning, Sunny Malibu! Today's gonna be a scorcher, so remember your sunglasses!" The radio DJ announced, causing a sleeping Lilly Truscott to wake up to the alarm.

She opened her eyes, only to find herself staring at the ceiling. The rest of the room was painted a calming green, but the ceiling was white, with a few traces of someone's footprints, which confused Lilly every time she looked at them. The previous tenants must have been contortionists or big yoga fans. Or maybe they were just really, really tall.

Looking at the clock, she could see that it was 7:45, which only left forty-five minutes before her ride to work came to pick her up. Without so much as a hint of grace, she swung her legs over the side of her bed and walked over to the bathroom. Showering quickly, she tried to wring excess water out of her long, blond hair as she walked over to her closet.

Turning up her radio, she stood in front of her closet, attempting to pick out an outfit without taking any clothes out. The rest of her apartment might be close to spotless, but her closet was her one downfall. Attempts had been made in hopes of organizing the small space, but there was no way that that many clothes would fit in that small of a closet.

Sighing at the mess, she picked out her favourite pair of dark wash skinny jeans, a white tank top, and a blue and green striped cardigan. To top it off, she put a skinny gold belt around her waist, and a collection of bangles around her wrist. If it were all up to Lilly, she would just wear an old pair of jeans, a Berkley sweatshirt, and her most comfortable pair of Birkenstocks, but she highly doubted her best friend Miley Stewart would allow that. Being her best friend since junior high, her keen fashion sense had rubbed off on her. Now, ironically, Miley owned a clothing store. Now, the dress code at Lilly's work didn't really exist, so everyday she saw something new, whether it was in the form of cozy pajamas, or leather pants. Unfortunately for her, she had seen various forms of both.

Walking down the hall and into the kitchen, she could see from the blinking light on the phone cradle that she had messages. Pressing the button and entering the code, the automated voice came on, announcing that she had two messages. Typing the appropriate button, the first message played.

"Hey, Lilly-Pad, it's Dad. I just touched down in London, and it's great here! We're playing a show tonight, and it should rock the house! Anyways, just wanted to say hey, and you can call me anytime, you know that, right? Have a great night, and say hi to your mom when you get the chance. Love ya."

Lilly smiled. Her dad was living his dream, touring the world with his band, being a rockstar. Ever since she could remember, he had been doing something related to music, whether it was recording in the studio, writing songs in the living room, or touring around the world with a group of middle-aged men living the same dream. It might be hard at times to be away from the rest of his family, but she knew that he lived for his music. She listened to the message once more, before erasing it and moving on to the next one.

"Lils, hey. It's Mel, and I have a bit of a problem. Come in to work as soon as you can, okay? Bye."

She frowned, confused by her co-worker's abrupt message. Usually, her messages lasted minutes, until she was cut off by the beep. She sighed as she erased the message. She looked at the clock. 8:15. Her ride would be coming in fifteen minutes, and she'd be at work by nine. She'd deal with her then.

She poured herself a big bowl of Honey Nut Cheereos, her favourite. Munching away, she turned on the small television sitting on her counter. Turning the channel to Access Hollywood, she turned up the volume just as the host said the name of a band she'd never heard of.

"Click 3 has just announced that they will be playing here in Malibu on Friday night. After the show, they will be staying here for six months to record their new album."

This caught her attention; she knew several people, thanks to her dad, in the recording industry, and she wondered which studio they would be recording in. Turning her attention back to the TV, they played a clip of the band's new hit single, and she turned up the volume. From the looks of it, they sounded pretty good to her. Upbeat melody, catchy lyrics, everything she usually looked for in a band.

Before she could finish the song, the buzzer rang, indicating that someone was at the door downstairs. Running over to the intercom, she pressed the button. 'Hold on, I'll be there in a minute."

Looking around, she grabbed her beige and black Coach purse, a generous present from her dad. She ran a brush through her hair, and grabbed her wallet from the coffee table, where she had left it last. Slipping a pair of dark purple flats on her feet, she closed the door behind her, locking up. Running to the elevator, she just barely caught it. She pressed the button for the lobby, and waited not-so-patiently for it to reach her destination. Finally, the elevator doors opened, and she ran out to the waiting car.

"Hey. Sorry that took so long." She said, turning to face the driver of the sleek, black sports car.

"Don't worry 'bout it. So we still doing lunch tomorrow?"

"Yup. Where do you wanna go?" she asked, pulling down the mirror and attempting to put on eyeliner, which proved to be harder than it looked. Sighing, she waited until a stop sign before attempting her mascara.

"There's that new pita place down the street from my work that looked pretty good. You wanna check it out?" 

"Definetly. Pitas happen to be my favourite food. Besides pizza, that is." She grinned.

"Sweet. I'll pick you up at noon, then."

Lilly leaned her head against the car window and sighed. It was nice and all, going out for lunch every single Thursday, but she almost resented the routineness of it all. It was the exact same thing every single day, rain or shine. She was picked up at 8:30, driven home at five. Every Thursday, they went out for lunch, and every other Sunday, they went for brunch. It was nice in a way, knowing how every day would unfold, more or less, but she wanted excitement. She was the type of person who thrived off of changes. That's why she picked up and left for college across the country, why she changed her major halfway through her schooling, and why she took a job doing something completely new to her. Thankfully, there had been no major disasters living the way she did, but that's what made it exciting.

She reached for the sound system, and turned on the radio. Already preset to her favourite station, she turned up the volume. It took her a second, but she soon recognized the song currently playing as the song from the band on Access Hollywood. She hadn't even realized that they were pulling up to the door of the office building where she worked, as she was concentrating on the song. There was something really unique about the song, but she couldn't figure out whether it was the lead singer, or the array of instruments she thought she could hear in the background.

"Well, here we are."

"Thanks. I'll see you after work?" she asked, looking over at the driver.

"Yup. See you then."

She opened the door, and leaned over, giving her boyfriend a quick kiss on the lips. "See you later, Oliver."


	3. Chapter 3

Lilly walked into her building, saying hi to the secretary behind the main desk. She took the elevator up to the seventh floor, her floor. Walking down the hall, she could see the chaos going on, but that was nothing new. Working in a newspaper office could be pretty hectic at times, but that was why she loved it. When she had showed up a year and a half ago for her job interview, she had been immediately drawn to the rushed manner of the place. There were people yelling across the room to each other, just trying to be heard over the noise, other people running around frantically, trying desperately to meet their deadlines, and occasionally, people running into each other, causing major disasters and mix-ups.

"Hi, Lilly." A voice said from behind her.

Hearing her name, she turned around to see a guy with a stack of papers in his hands. "Hey, Jackson. How's it going?"

Jackson, Miley's older brother, also worked at the newspaper office. His expertise was writing sports articles, even though he couldn't play a sport to save his life. She had known him since middle school, when the Stewart family had moved to Malibu from Tennessee. He might be the older brother that her and Miley used to be grossed out by, but he had grown up and matured, thankfully. Now, they talked now and again at the office, and since he only lived five minutes away from the Stewart house, all the time at Miley's house.

"Good, I guess. You?"

"Great. So you still seeing Chelsea?" she asked, referring to the girl of the week that he had been dating the last time they had spoken. That boy changed his mind about girls almost as much as his sister changed her mind about clothes. And that was saying something.

"No. I broke up with her a few days ago." He said, not looking the least bit remorseful. "Who knew that a girl that hot would snore like a chainsaw in her sleep."

"So you slept with her?" Lilly asked, grinning. "Good one."

Jackson shrugged, as if it was no big deal. "I try."

She laughed. "Well, I should probably be going. Mel called me saying something about an emergency. Which probably means it's about a boy, but whatever. See you later?"

"I should go, too. Hey, are you going to that barbeque that my dad's putting on?"

"You mean the annual one over at your house? I wouldn't miss it for the world. Anywhere that there's free food, I'm all over it."

"Great. So I'll see you then?"

"Oh, yeah. I might even be there early if you're lucky. See you later, Jackson." She waved, before turning around and heading down the hallway towards her cubicle. Unfortunately, she was fairly new at her job, so she hadn't climbed up the vocational ladder, so she was stuck with a cubicle, which to her wasn't a big deal at all. Loud women who loved talking about their love lives, and the lack thereof surrounded her, and there was even a soft-serve ice cream machine in the staff kitchen.

Finally reaching her small working space, she sat down in her chair and waited. Knowing Melissa, she'd be there in about half a minute, before discussing the problems in her personal life. Of course, Lily didn't mind. She didn't write the advice column in the paper for nothing. She had been chosen for that part when the regular advice columnist had decided that the Malibu Post wasn't good enough for her, so she'd left for the New York Times, leaving the spot open for Lily, who, at the time, was just considered the new girl. So of course, she jumped at the chance to actually get published.

"Lilly!" a voice yelled, as someone ran past her cubicle, before halting to a stop, and taking the few steps back to her desk. "I'm so glad I found you. Big emergency."

"What's up?" Out of all the women in the office, Melissa was by far her favourite. She was a petite redhead with a killer fashion sense. She was always sporting the latest trends, and trying to convince Lilly that certain non-trends, such as parachute pants were totally in style over in Paris. Melissa also always somehow managed to have a date with a usually cute, rich boy, even if their relationship typically wouldn't last for more than three months, tops.

"Okay, so you know how I was supposed to review that show on Friday night for Shelly?" she pointed to a slightly large blonde woman making her way over to the ice cream machine in the staff kitchen. "So it turns out that I have a date tomorrow night. And this guy's really cute. Like, he might even be The One."

"And?" Lilly asked, even though she knew what her friend was about to ask.

"Could you possibly do it for me?" Melissa asked, giving her a pleading look.

Lilly narrowed her eyes. She knew she could possibly score big with this one "And what would I get out of it?"

"Those new Jimmy Choos I had on last week, that you said you really liked? They're yours if you do this for me. It'll be fun, I promise!"

Lilly thought about this. To be completely honest, she didn't have any plans for Friday night, and Shelly was usually assigned to review good live music, so it might be fun. Plus, she _did_ get new shoes out of the deal.

"Fine." She sighed, as if this was asking a lot out of her.

"Yes! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You don't know how much you're saving my love life right now. If I had to cancel my date with Hans, I don't know what I'd do."

"Hans?" Lilly raised her eyebrows, giving Melissa a skeptical look.

"What? He's German. And totally hot." Melissa said, grinning.

Lilly laughed, until she thought of something. "Wait, why were you doing this for Shelly? I thought you didn't even _like_ her, let alone be willing to do a favour for her."

Melissa frowned. "You know Hans?"

Lilly nodded.

"Well, they're kind of cousins. She set me up with him."

That made sense. Melissa was always complaining about how annoying Shelly was, but when it came to guys, she would do almost anything to land a date with one, and Shelly seemed to have good sources. She was married, after all. Melissa was still trying to find The One, but it seemed that she was having trouble. Every time Mel thought that she was getting close to finding him, something would happen, and they would break up.

Lilly rolled her eyes, and grinned at her friend. She always knew how to make Lilly smile, with her crazy antics and hilarious date stories.

"So who's playing? Are they even good?"

"Of course they're good. I think. Well, to be completely honest, I've never even heard of them, but I'm sure they're great."

"Great." Lilly said dryly. "Two hours of music that no one knows of. Perfect Friday night, right there."

"Jeez, I'm sorry, okay? It's just that this guy might be The One, and I can't miss the chance. I think the band's called Clap 4 or something." She quickly leafed through the folder in her hand. "Click 3. That's it. Well, at least it's not some outrageously atrocious name."

"I guess." Lilly said, thinking of the band she'd seen on Access Hollywood. She _thought_ that that was what they were called. Or, at least, she hoped. They were pretty catchy.

"I should go. Smith is giving me a dirty look." Mel said, referring to their boss, Daniel Smith. "Catch you later?"

"Definetly."

"Awesome. And again, thank you _so_ much for doing this for me. I owe you big time."

"You just owe me your shoes." Lilly said, smirking. She could just picture how many outfits would look _that_ much better with a new pair of Jimmy Choos on her feet.

Melissa waved, and walked away, leaving Lilly the chance to look through her enormous pile of mail. Unfortunately, most of her readers hadn't quite figured out how to use email, so they mailed in their questions using the old-fashioned way. But that was fine with Lilly. She liked the feeling of feeling important. Reading through the questions, she categorized; Love, Lust, and Relationship Problems. There were other people on the newspaper staff that dealt with money and pets, but love was her department.

_Dear Lilly,_

_There's this guy I really, really like. Like, more than I've ever liked anyone before in my life. But here's the thing; I have a boyfriend. He's great, but there's just no chemistry anymore, like there is with this other guy. I don't know what to do. If I stay with my boyfriend, I'll never be fully satisfied with my life, but if I go with this other guy, it'll just cause problems with everyone else. Help me!_

_- Torn in Two_

Hmm. This was difficult. She could only imagine how the reader felt, but it couldn't have been a good feeling. There was only one reasonable answer that she could have thought of.

_Dear Torn,_

_You know what you have to do, right? FOLLOW YOUR HEART. Only you can make yourself fully happy. Explain to your boyfriend that things just aren't working out, wait a reasonable amount of time for the dust to settle, and then go for it! Good luck!_

_- Lilly _

Satisfied with her answer, she saved it and went on to the next question. Looking at the clock several questions later, she saw that it was nearly five. Oliver would be coming soon. Shutting down her computer, she grabbed her bag, and walked down the hall to the elevator. As usual, he was sitting, waiting for her in his car outside the building.

"Hey, hon." He said, as she climbed into the car.

"Hey." She said, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. "How was your day?"

"Good. There was this big case at work, so that's pretty much all I was doing. I don't even think I stopped to eat."

"Poor baby." Lilly said, mock concerned. She knew that once he got to his apartment, he would most likely eat half of the contents in his fridge.

"Hey. I need to eat, you know." Oliver said, trying to defend himself.

"I know, I know." She smiled.

Soon, there was a comfortable silence in the car, and all Lilly could hear was the hum of the air conditioner. Soon enough, they pulled up to the front of Lilly's building.

"Thanks for the ride. See you tomorrow?"

"You bet. Bright and early." He leaned over, and kissed her.

And with that, she got out of the car and up to her apartment.


End file.
